Folding collapsible clothes cabinet

ABSTRACT

A folding collapsible clothes cabinet includes a wheeled folding base unit formed of two symmetrical halves hinged together, two upright supports respectively fastened to the two symmetrical halves of the folding base frame at the top, two links pivoted together and coupled between the upright supports at one side, and a top panel coupled to the upright supports at the top, the top panel having one end pivoted to one of the upright supports and the other end detachably coupled the other of the upright supports.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0001] The present invention relates to clothes cabinet for hangingclothes and, more specifically, to a folding collapsible clothescabinet.

[0002] Regular clothes cabinets for hanging clothes and keeping personalitems are commonly made of wooden materials, metal tubes, or plasticmaterials. These clothes cabinets have a fixed size. When not in use,these clothe cabinets still occupy much storage space. There are alsoknown detachable clothes cabinets. When not in use, the parts of adetachable clothes cabinet can be detached from one another. However,the parts of a detachable clothes cabinet must be well kept in goodorder when detached. The detached detachable clothes cabinet can nolonger be set up again in case either part is lost.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0003] The present invention has been accomplished to provide a foldingcollapsible clothes cabinet, which eliminates the aforesaid problem. Itis one object of the present invention to provide a simple structure ofclothes cabinet, which is folding collapsible. It is another object ofthe present invention to provide a folding collapsible clothes cabinet,which is practical for hanging clothes as well as keeping other items.To achieve these and other objects of the present invention, the foldingcollapsible clothes cabinet comprises a wheeled folding base unit formedof two symmetrical halves hinged together, two upright supportsrespectively fastened to the two symmetrical halves of the folding baseframe at the top, two links pivoted together and coupled between theupright supports at one side, and a top panel coupled to the uprightsupports at the top, the top panel having one end pivoted to one of theupright supports and the other end detachably coupled the other of theupright supports. According to another aspect of the present invention,the links are pivoted to each other, each having a bottom end pivoted toone post of one of the upright supports and a top end pivoted to apulley in a longitudinal sliding groove in one post of the other of theupright supports.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0004]FIG. 1 is an elevational view of a folding collapsible clothescabinet according to the present invention.

[0005]FIG. 1A is an enlarged view of a part of FIG. 1.

[0006]FIG. 1B is an enlarged view of a part of FIG. 1.

[0007]FIG. 2 is an exploded view of a part of the folding collapsibleclothes cabinet according to the present invention, showing therelationship between the top panel and the upright supports.

[0008]FIG. 2A is an enlarged view of a part of FIG. 2.

[0009]FIG. 3 is a plain view of the present invention showing thefolding collapsible clothes cabinet extended out.

[0010]FIG. 4 is a plain view of the present invention showing thefolding collapsible clothes cabinet collapsed.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

[0011] Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, a folding collapsible clothes cabinetin accordance with the present invention is shown comprised of twoupright supports 1, a top panel 2, a base unit 3, and two links 4. Thesupports 1 support the load carried in the clothes cabinet, eachcomprising two parallel posts 11 and a grille 111 connected between theposts 11. At least one, or each of the posts 11 has a longitudinallyextended sliding groove 110. The supports 1 each have a top opening 12.One of the supports 1 comprises two pivot pins 14 horizontally alignedat two sides of the top opening 12 thereof. The other of the supports 1comprises two pivot holes 13 horizontally aligned at two sides of thetop opening 12 thereof. The links 4 are pivotally connected together,each having a bottom end pivoted to one post 11 of one of the supports 1by a pivot 43 and a top end pivoted to the pulley 41 in thelongitudinally extended sliding groove 110 of one post 11 of the otherof the supports 1 (see FIG. 1A).

[0012] Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2 again, the top panel 2 is arectangular open frame comprising two end blocks 20 disposed at twoopposite short sides thereof and respectively fitting the top opening 12of each support 1, the end blocks 20 each having a downwardly protrudedlocating portion 21, a plurality of transverse slats 23 arranged inparallel between the end blocks 20, and a hanging rod 22 connectedbetween the downwardly protruded locating portions 21 of the end blocks20. Further, one of the end blocks 20 has two coupling grooves 202bilaterally disposed at the bottom sidewall thereof corresponding to thepivot pins 14 of one of the support 1. The other of the end blocks 20comprises two pivot pins 201 respectively coupled to the pivot holes 13of the other of the supports 1. When assembled, the top panel 2 can beturned about the imaginary axis connected between the pivot holes 13 ofone support 1. When turning the top panel 2 to the horizontal, thecoupling grooves 202 of the respective end block 20 are forced intoengagement with the pivot pins 14 of the respective support 1.

[0013] Referring to FIG. 1 again, the base unit 3 comprises twotransverse frame bars 34 respectively fixedly fastened to the bottomends of the posts 11 of the supports 1, two pairs of wheels 35respectively bilaterally provided at the transverse frame bars 34 at thebottom side, two first connecting rods 31 respectively pivoted to onetransverse frame bar 34 and arranged in parallel, two second connectingrods 32 respectively hinged to the first connecting rods 31 and pivotedto the other transverse frame bar 34, two stop members 311 respectivelyprovided at the first connecting rods 31 and adapted to limit turningangle of the first connecting rods 31 and the second connecting rods 32,and ropes 33 fastened between the first connecting rods 31 as well asbetween the second connecting rods 32 for carrying things. Sheet membersmay be used and respectively fastened to the first connecting rods 31and the second connecting rods 32 instead of the ropes 33.

[0014] Referring to FIG. 3 and FIG. 1 again, when in use, the supports 1are pulled apart to extend out the base unit 3, keeping the firstconnecting rods 31 and the second connecting rods 32 longitudinallyaligned. At this time, the stop members 311 are respectively stopped atthe second connecting rods 32 at the top side to hold the connectingrods 31 and 32 in the horizontally aligned position, and things can beput on the ropes 33 between the connecting rods 31 and 32. Thereafter,the top panel 2 is turned inwards to the horizontal position to forcethe coupling grooves 202 of the respective end block 20 into engagementwith the pivot pins 14 of the respective support 1. When set up, clothescan be hung on the hanging rod 22 or the transverse slats 23.

[0015] Referring to FIG. 4, when not in use, the top panel 2 is turnedoutwards to disengage the coupling grooves 202 of the respective endblock 20 from the pivot pins 14 of the respective support 1, and thenthe first connecting rods 31 and the second connecting rods 32 areturned upwards to move the supports I toward each other, and at the sametime the pulleys 41 are moved with the respective links 4 upwards alongthe respective longitudinally extended sliding grooves 110. When foldedup, as shown in FIG. 4, the clothes cabinet requires less storage space.

[0016] While only one embodiment of the present invention has been shownand described, it will be understood that various modifications andchanges could be made thereunto without departing from the spirit andscope of the invention disclosed.

What the invention claimed is:
 1. A folding collapsible clothes cabinetcomprising: a folding base unit, said folding base unit comprising twosymmetrical halves hinged together; two upright supports respectivelyfastened to the two symmetrical halves of said folding base frame, saidupright supports each comprising two parallel posts, said posts eachcomprising a longitudinal sliding groove; two pulleys respectivelymounted in and moved up and down along the longitudinally extendedsliding groove of one of each of said upright supports; two linkspivoted together, said links each having a bottom end pivoted to onepost of one of said upright supports and a top end pivoted to the pulleyin the longitudinally extended sliding groove of one of the other ofsaid upright supports; and a top panel detachably coupled to saidupright supports at a top side.
 2. The folding collapsible clothescabinet of claim 1 wherein said top panel has a first end pivoted to oneof said upright supports, and a second end adapted for supporting on theother of said upright supports.
 3. The folding collapsible clothescabinet of claim 1 wherein said top panel comprises a hanging roddisposed at a bottom side for hanging.
 4. The folding collapsibleclothes cabinet of claim 2 wherein said upright supports include a firstupright support and a second upright support, said first upright supportcomprising a top opening and two pivot holes aligned at two sides of thetop opening of said first upright support, said second upright supportcomprising a top opening and two pivot pins aligned at two sides of thetop opening of said second upright support; said top panel comprises afirst end block and a second end block disposed at two distal endsthereof and respectively fitting the top opening of each of said uprightsupports, said first end block comprising two pivot pins respectivelycoupled to the pivot holes of said first upright support, said secondend block comprising two coupling grooves bilaterally disposed at abottom side thereof and adapted for coupling to the pivot pins of saidsecond upright support.
 5. The folding collapsible clothes cabinet ofclaim 1 wherein the two symmetrical halves of said folding base uniteach comprise a transverse frame bar fixedly fastened to the posts ofone upright support and two connecting rods respectively pivoted to saidtransverse frame bar and arranged in parallel, the connecting rods ofone of the two symmetrical haves of said folding base unit beingrespectively hinged to the connecting rods of the other of the twosymmetrical halves of said folding base unit.
 6. The folding collapsibleclothes cabinet of claim 5 wherein the two symmetrical halves of saidfolding base unit each further comprise pieces of ropes connectedbetween the respective connecting rods for carrying things.
 7. Thefolding collapsible clothes cabinet of claim 5 wherein the twosymmetrical halves of said folding base unit each further comprise aplurality of wheels respectively provided at the respective transverseframe bar at a bottom side.
 8. The folding collapsible clothes cabinetof claim 1 wherein said upright supports each further comprise a grilleconnected between the respective posts.